Zonta reported: “I’m very happy with the car. It seems to be going very well around this circuit. Basically the grip levels were quite low for everyone in the morning session but the track conditions improved. I think I had the potential to set the quickest time towards the end of the second session, but I hit a bit of traffic on my quickest lap.”

Nürburgring is a home race for Cologne-based Toyota Motorsport and every member of staff had a ticket offer to visit one of the grandstands at some stage during the weekend to cheer on race drivers Jarno Trulli and Ralf Schumacher.

Schumacher finished the day with 10th fastest time (1m33.098s) while Trulli was 11th (1m33.168s).

“We had a trouble-free day but I feel that there are still some improvements to be made with my set-up,” explained Schumacher. “The tyre choice, however, is pretty clear from today.”

Trulli, meanwhile, added: “I had a good day but the times are not truly representative because I hit traffic towards the end of the session. Overall the car inspires confidence and I’m hoping for another competitive weekend.” Trulli comes into the race in third place in the drivers championship, with the team in the corresponding position in the constructors contest.

Behind Zonta today, Nick Heidfeld (1m31.813s) set third quickest time for the BMW Williams F1 Team, ahead of West McLaren Mercedes race drivers Juan Pablo Montoya (1m31.841s) and Kimi Raikkonen (1m31.870s).

The weather in the Eifel mountains can be unpredictable at this time of year and can play a significant role in tyre performance. The tyre companies have to factor this into their choice of compound before the weekend and, so far, conditions have been hotter than usual, with track temperatures approaching 50 degrees, only 1 degree less than typical temperatures witnessed in Malaysia and Bahrain!

Technical Director, Chassis, Mike Gascoyne said: “The tyre choice is fairly clear cut but we will analyse all the data this evening. The hot weather looks likely to continue throughout the meeting and the possibility of thunderstorms interrupting the team’s preparation seems to be lessening. I would expect the TF105s to perform well at the Nürburgring and to see similar competitiveness to the two previous races. We have some aerodynamic developments on the cars and Jarno has a new specification engine here. Ralf, of course, still has his engine from Monaco as we were forced to make a change there after his crash in qualifying. All three drivers got through their intended programmes and there were no technical issues with any of the cars.”